Taper Week 1 Summary – 1 weeks to Comrades

Second every 500 + mile month ticked off, and biggest month every with a total of 509 miles for May 2019. Planned mileage for week will hit 60 miles, including 3 key sessions towards the end of the week with 1 hour of Pilates 

Friday – Intervals – 4 x 1k progressive efforts

Saturday – Progressive 5k – 2 miles easy – progressive Poole parkrun – 2 miles easy 

Sunday – 10k Race – Tempo – Poole 10k

Flight Monday 03/06 arriving Durban 04/06

Check out the ESR Podcast covering my Pre-Comrades Marathon prep.

Nutrition – Week 16 Summary

Kept the calories to help fatigue recovery and dropped the carbs toward the end of the week, not doing a full delpleation due to flights and risk of picking up a bug so will keep low carb approx. 100-150g per day until Wednesday next week and then load Thursday – Saturday.

Fitness & Freshness – Week 16 Summary

See week 12 summary for information on new section ‘Fitness & Freshness’

Below table shows end of day Fitness and Freshness scores following activities.

Fitness & Freshness Summary:

DATE	Fitness	Change last 7 days	Fatigue	Form
27/05	86	0	106	-20
28/05	84	-4	94	-10
29/05	83	-6	85	-2
30/05	82	-7	79	2
31/05	81	-7	76	6
01/06	80	-7	72	9
02/06	82	-4	80	2

Weight Target 66-67kg Training – 65kg Race Weight

Tracking started Saturday 25/05 – 67.8kg

Weight Summary:

DATE	Weight (Kg)	Fat (%)	Muscle (%)	Water (%)
27/05	67.2kg	2.8	55.2	67.9
28/05	67.3kg	2.9	55.0	67.9
29/05	67.3kg	2.9	55.4	67.6
30/05	67.9kg	3.2	55.1	67.3
31/05	67.3kg	2.9	55.3	67.6
01/06	66.6kg	2.8	55.8	67.9
02/06	67.3kg	3.0	54.2	67.7

Training – Week 16 Summary

Weekly Totals: (10 sessions)

Total Miles: 61.73 Miles

Avg Pace: 06:58/m

Time: 07:10:07

DATE	Distance (Miles)	Summary	Avg Pace	Avg HR
27/05	7	60 min Easy	7:52/m	116
28/05	7	Morning Easy	7:33/m	116
29/05	10	Steady 10	7:12/m	121
30/05	8 1 Hour 3	Pre Pilates 🏃‍♂️ Progressive Pilates Easy / Progressive 5k	6:30/m   7:10/m	131   119
31/05	7 1 Hour	Morning Run with 4 x 1k Progressive Sports Massage	6:36/m	133
01/06	7	2 + progressive Poole parkrun + 2	6:55/m	133
02/06	1.5 6 2.5	Warm up Poole 10k Poole 10k Cool down Poole 10k	7:13/m 5:27/m 7:47/m	124 158 120

Kit

Make	Model	Description	Type	Current Mileage	Purchase Date
New Balance	1400v6	Red White AW18 – UK 11	Training Road	246	Oct-2018
New Balance	Summit Unknown	Black – UK 11	Training Trail	199	Oct-2018
Nike	Vaporfly 4% Flyknit	Red – UK 11	Racing Road	77	Jan-2019
Nike	Zoom Fly Flyknit	UK11 – Dark Grey/Black/Atmosphere Grey/Metallic Pewter	Training Road	685	Jan-2019
Nike	Zoom Fly Flyknit	UK11 – Wolf Grey / Black-Blue Fury	Training Road	370	Mar-2019
Nike	Zoom Fly Flyknit	UK11 – Blue Orbit/White/Photo Blue/Black	Training Road	288	Apr-2019
Nike	Zoom Fly Flyknit	UK11 – Sequoia/Olive Flak/Light Bone/Black	Training Road	186	Apr-2019
Nike	Zoom Fly Flyknit	UK11 – Deep Royal/Blue Void/White UK11	Training Road	0	May-2019
North Face	Ultra MT		Mountain	83	Mar-2017

Week 3 Summary 2 weeks to Comrades

Planned mileage for week will hit 115 miles, including 3 key sessions, 2 in the alps before travelling back to the UK and final long run on Sunday. Travelling Thursday so up early 05:30am for last session in the alps started a long day with travelling on the train to Geneva before a 2+ hour delay with EasyJet so returning home at 02:30am Friday morning 🙁

Tuesday – Intervals – 8 x 1k efforts on the Bourge Sainte Maurice Cycle path, slight change in plan following heading to the Bourg track and finding a group of children down doing training.  Headed down to the cycle path for a 4k warm up and 8 x 1k efforts then 4k warm down, out and back intervals with 90 seconds active recovery, second interval is slightly uphill.  Gave the Nike Vaporfly 4% Flyknit‘s a outing.

Thursday – Hills \ 5k Tempo – Travel day so early start, plan to complete 2 x Aime 6 mile loops with a final 5k Tempo effort on the Bourg cycle path with a progressing push to increase the pace over the last 3 miles.

Sunday – Long Run –  Last planned long run, glute and hip flexor tight following travelling back from France, 150 minutes on undulating route at easy effort.

Time to taper, easy two weeks with travelling to SA on Monday 3rd June,

Nutrition – Week 15 Summary

Fitness & Freshness – Week 15 Summary

See week 12 summary for information on new section ‘Fitness & Freshness’

Below table shows end of day Fitness and Freshness scores following activities.

Fitness & Freshness Summary:

DATE	Fitness	Change last 7 days	Fatigue	Form
20/05	84	+12	144	-60
21/05	86	+11	146	-61
22/05	88	+11	151	-63
23/05	88	+11	144	-56
24/05	88	–	136	-48
25/05	88	+4	127	-39
26/05	87	+3	120	-32

Weight Target 66-67kg Training – 65kg Race Weight

Week 4 Alps training no weight recorded during trip, weight Saturday morning 67.7kg, now to reduced carbs for taper and hit race weight between 65-66kg following depletion and pre flight on Monday 03rd June.

Training – Week 15 Summary

Weekly Totals: (10 sessions)

Total Miles: 118.50 Miles

Avg Pace: 07:10/m

Time: 14:08:21

DATE	Distance (Miles)	Summary	Avg Pace	Avg HR
20/05	13 4	Le Monal – Repeats (3 x Le Monal 1 x L’Echaillon @ 1800m) Le Planay	7:42/m 8:26/m	131 123
21/05	12.5 6.5	8 x 1k @ Bourg Cycle Track (800m with 4K WU & WD) Le Planay + St Foy Station (50 mins)	6:33/m 7:34/m	140 129
22/05	12 11	Tignes + Val Claret Loops Plan Bois > Marquise > Le Monel CP > Le Planay	6:50/m 8:15/m	136 129
23/05	15	2 x Aime Hill Loops (last 5k progressive)	6:46/m	134
24/05	10	Cowgrove Out & Back	6:30/m	137
25/05	13	Morning Run inc Poole parkrun	6:59/m	132
26/05	21	Last long Run (150 mins with some hills)	7:08/m	125

Kit

Make	Model	Description	Type	Current Mileage	Purchase Date
New Balance	1400v6	Red White AW18 – UK 11	Training Road	246	Oct-2018
New Balance	Summit Unknown	Black – UK 11	Training Trail	199	Oct-2018
Nike	Vaporfly 4% Flyknit	Red – UK 11	Racing Road	67	Jan-2019
Nike	Zoom Fly Flyknit	UK11 – Dark Grey/Black/Atmosphere Grey/Metallic Pewter	Training Road	685	Jan-2019
Nike	Zoom Fly Flyknit	UK11 – Wolf Grey / Black-Blue Fury	Training Road	358	Mar-2019
Nike	Zoom Fly Flyknit	UK11 – Blue Orbit/White/Photo Blue/Black	Training Road	263	Apr-2019
Nike	Zoom Fly Flyknit	UK11 – Sequoia/Olive Flak/Light Bone/Black	Training Road	171	Apr-2019
North Face	Ultra MT		Mountain	83	Mar-2017

4 Weeks to Comrades

Planned mileage for week will hit 140 miles, this is my biggest ever mileage total and will include the following key sessions for week 4 in the alps.

Tuesday – Kenyan Hill Tempo Session – Heading to Aime for the second Kenyan hill session this time 6 x ascents to include 6+ miles of climbing with each hill having an ascent of 1.02 miles with a decent of 0.77 miles on a 6% gradient that allows faster running, session will include a 4k warm up and 4k cool down on the Bourg cycle path. Full session approx. 16 miles.

• Distance 1.02mi
• Avg Grade 6%
• Highest Elev 2,549ft
• Climb Category 4

Thursday – 18 Mile Tempo (inc 4K warm-up) –  Bourg Sainte Maurice to Aime on the cycle path, returning via road on undulating route back to Bourg. Tempo avg pace planned 6:20/m

Saturday – Marathon – Running from Sainte Foy Tarentaise Station via road to Bourg, then to Aime via Bourg Sainte Maurice on the cycle path with a final loop of Fields Hill Loop 6.46m Strava segment > La Plagne-Tarentaise, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France

Sunday – Marathon – Running from Landry Station to Aime then 4 x Fields Hill Loop 6.46m Strava segment > La Plagne-Tarentaise, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, with some extra loops of lake on cycle path.

Nutrition – Week 14 Summary

Diet increased carbohydrates to fuel training plan, approx. 200g carbs on lighter days to 350-400g on higher days, with the increase to cover session. Normal low carb diet and meal model with sweet potatoes in main meals and porridge oats with peanut butter as a breakfast on main session days. Also added thins with peanut butter and banana as an extra snack as required.

Fitness & Freshness – Week 14 Summary

See week 12 summary for information on new section ‘Fitness & Freshness’

Below table shows end of day Fitness and Freshness scores following activities.

Fitness & Freshness Summary:

DATE	Fitness	Change last 7 days	Fatigue	Form
13/05	70	+9	114	-45
14/05	72	+10	121	-49
15/05	75	+9	129	-55
16/05	77	+10	138	-61
17/05	77	+10	128	-51
18/05	81	+11	144	-63
19/05	83	+14	148	-65

Weight Target 66-67kg Training – 65kg Race Weight

Week 3 Alps training no weight recorded

Training – Week 14 Summary

Weekly Totals: (12 sessions)

Total Miles: 141.36 Miles

Avg Pace: 06:58 /m

Time: 16:25:12

Week 13 May – 19 May Summary:

DATE	Distance (Miles)	Summary	Avg Pace	Avg HR
13/05	12 4	Le Monal (Repeats @ 1800m) Le Planay + St Foy St	8:01/m 8:17/m	125 123
14/05	16 4	Aime Hills ⛰ x 6 Le Planay + St Foy St	6:47/m 8:48/m	140 124
15/05	6 10	Le Planay > Montalbert > St Foy St ⛰ Lac de Tignes – Out & Back Repeats (@2100m)	7:37/m 6:46/m	143 138
16/05	22 4	18 Mile Tempo (inc 4K warm-up) Sainte Foy Station Car Park Loops	6:32/m 6:57/m	136 131
17/05	6 4	Le Planay Reverse Loop + St Foy St Le Planay (Out & Back)	7:42/m 8:22/m	129 125
18/05	26.2	St Foy > Aime Marathon	6:14/m	137
19/05	26.2	Landry > Aime x 3 loops (Double Marathon Weekend)	6:44/m	135

Kit

Make	Model	Description	Type	Current Mileage	Purchase Date
New Balance	1400v6	Red White AW18 – UK 11	Training Road	246	Oct-2018
New Balance	Summit Unknown	Black – UK 11	Training Trail	199	Oct-2018
Nike	Vaporfly 4% Flyknit	Red – UK 11	Racing Road	67	Jan-2019
Nike	Zoom Fly Flyknit	UK11 – Dark Grey/Black/Atmosphere Grey/Metallic Pewter	Training Road	685	Jan-2019
Nike	Zoom Fly Flyknit	UK11 – Wolf Grey / Black-Blue Fury	Training Road	358	Mar-2019
Nike	Zoom Fly Flyknit	UK11 – Blue Orbit/White/Photo Blue/Black	Training Road	202	Apr-2019
Nike	Zoom Fly Flyknit	UK11 – Sequoia/Olive Flak/Light Bone/Black	Training Road	126	Apr-2019
North Face	Ultra MT		Mountain	83	Mar-2017

5 Weeks to Comrades

Highest mileage week recorded since I started running in June 2007.  Key sessions for week 2 in the alps

Tuesday – Kenyan Hill Tempo Session – Heading to Aime for a session to include 8km of climbing, each hill had an ascent of 1.02 miles with a decent of 0.77 miles on a 6% gradient that allows faster running with a 4k warm up and down on the Bourg cycle path. Full session approx. 14 mile.

• Distance 1.02mi
• Avg Grade 6%
• Highest Elev 2,549ft
• Climb Category 4

Thursday – Tempo 13 miles at Comrades effort on the rolling Bourg cycle path at 800m – planned avg 6:00/m pace

Sunday – Long Run – 50k + (32.2 miles) Sunday 50k + long run Bourg Saint Maurice to Aime (4 x Aime Loops) Aime loops to represent Fields Hill from Comrades Marathon (See Strava Segment)

View this post on Instagram

Final downhill section of our Sunday 50k + long run from @biobourgsaintmaurice Bourg Saint Maurice to Aime (4 x Aime Loops) @gerdarun @marigold__bac @fuelled.run #comradestraining #comrades2019 #comradesmarathon thanks @pilotdunc

A post shared by Anthony Clark (@fuelled.run) on May 12, 2019 at 3:41am PDT

Nutrition – Week 13 Summary

Diet increased carbohydrates to fuel training plan, approx. 200g carbs on normal days with increase to cover session days using normal low carb diet and meal model.  Meals tracking restricted for planning but still recording on main diet to track.

Fitness & Freshness – Week 13 Summary

See week 12 summary for information on new section ‘Fitness & Freshness’

Below table shows end of day Fitness and Freshness scores following activities.

Fitness & Freshness Summary:

DATE	Fitness	Change last 7 days	Fatigue	Form
04/05	52	-1	52	-2
05/05	55	+3	71	-16
06/05	57	+5	80	-23
07/05	59	+8	90	-31
08/05	61	+12	98	-37
09/05	65	+16	115	-50
10/05	67	+16	121	-53
11/05	66	+11	108	-42
12/05	70	+13	121	-51

Weight Target 66-67kg Training – 65kg Race Weight

Week 2 Alps training no weight recorded

Training – Week 13 Summary

Weekly Totals: (13 sessions)

Total Miles: 133.51 Miles

Avg Pace: 07:15 /m

Time: 16:08:51

Week 06 May – 12 May Summary:

DATE	Distance (Miles)	Summary	Avg Pace	Avg HR
06/05	10 6	Extended – St Foy St > ST Foy Village > La Thuile Loop St Foy St > Le Planay	7:45/m 8:00/m	134 128
07/05	14 4	5 x Aime Hills 30 Easy	7:01/m 8:09/m	139 127
08/05	12 4	Le Monal (Repeats @ 1800m) 20 x St Foy Car Park Laps	7:46/m 6:47/m	136 136
09/05	17 4	13 Mile Tempo (Bourg Cycle Track @800m) 35 Recovery	6:28/m 7:43/m	144 127
10/05	12 4	Le Monal (Repeats @ 1800m) Le Planay Easy + St Foy St	7:35/m 8:37/m	140 121
11/05	10	St Foy St > Bourg (Super U)	7:00/m	115
12/05	32 3	50k + run 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️🏃‍♂️⛰🇫🇷 Bourg Saint Maurice to Aime (4 x Aime Loops) St Foy St – Recovery	6:54/m 8:01/m	133 123

Kit

Make	Model	Description	Type	Current Mileage	Purchase Date
New Balance	1400v6	Red White AW18 – UK 11	Training Road	246	Oct-2018
New Balance	Summit Unknown	Black – UK 11	Training Trail	199	Oct-2018
Nike	Vaporfly 4% Flyknit	Red – UK 11	Racing Road	67	Jan-2019
Nike	Zoom Fly Flyknit	UK11 – Dark Grey/Black/Atmosphere Grey/Metallic Pewter	Training Road	685	Jan-2019
Nike	Zoom Fly Flyknit	UK11 – Wolf Grey / Black-Blue Fury	Training Road	358	Mar-2019
Nike	Zoom Fly Flyknit	UK11 – Blue Orbit/White/Photo Blue/Black	Training Road	102	Apr-2019
Nike	Zoom Fly Flyknit	UK11 – Sequoia/Olive Flak/Light Bone/Black	Training Road	90	Apr-2019
North Face	Ultra MT		Mountain	83	Mar-2017

6 Weeks to Comrades

Week 12 was a planned cut back week prior to travelling to Sainte Foy Tarantaise our base for a 3 week training camp with fellow Nedbank team mates Steve Way and Gerda Steyn. Our base in St Foy is at 1600m with 3 main training areas, the ski station of St Foy (1600m), Tignes Lac (2100m) and Bourg Sainte Maurice (800m).  St Foy offers many routes of either mountain roads or trails that will be used for short hill efforts, easy \ recovery day runs. Tignes Lac gives the option of flat altitude running around the lake at the main resort.  The third location is dropping down to Bourg Sainte Maurice where the the rolling cycle path provides an ideal location for long runs, plus the option of a trail 1k loop and 400m purpose laid running track around the rugby pitch.

Arriving Friday 03/05, the first few days will be to acclimatise to the altitude with some easy running.

Nutrition – Week 12 Summary

Following London I allowed myself a couple of binge days to recharge and refuel, Tuesday – Thursday I resumed my standard diet with a carb intake of approximately 100-200g carbs per day.

Friday with travelling I did not record my intake fully but stuck to low carb choices before resuming tracking on Saturday and Sunday.  For the camp I will stick to 100-200g carbs per day, for main days with increases for big training days and longer runs.

Fitness & Freshness

New section to the blog – So for my trip to France I wanted to look at performance changes and on discussion with Steve I have enabled the Strava the Analysis Summit Pack. Plus it was on special so only £18 for 12 months.

The main feature I will be using is the Fitness and Freshness analysis, for this I have reviewed and reset my HR setting on Strava as i’d never used this feature before.  Unfortunately they were incorrectly set with a max HR or 190 not 180.  This has now been updated on 3rd May so might effect the initial readings.  The Fitness and Freshness analysis considers your heart rate based Relative Effort Training Load to track your levels of fitness, fatigue and form over time.

Below table shows end of day Fitness and Freshness scores following activities.

Fitness & Freshness Summary:

DATE	Fitness	Change last 7 days	Fatigue	Form
04/05	52	-1	52	-2
05/05	55	+3	71	-16

Weight Target 66-67kg Training – 65kg Race Weight

Final pre trip weight in 67.8kg, no scales in France this was planned as wanted to concentrate on fuelling by feel and recovery for the sessions and efforts.  Will be interesting to see how weight settles over the 3 weeks away.

Weight Summary:

DATE	Weight (Kg)	Fat (%)	Muscle (%)	Water (%)
02/05	68.6kg	3.5	55.9	66.9
03/05	67.8kg	3.1	54.7	67.5

Training – Week 12 Summary

Weekly Totals: (9 sessions)

Total Miles: 84.49 Miles

Avg Pace: 7:32 /m

Time: 10:37:07

Week 29 April – 05 May Summary:

DATE	Distance (Miles)	Summary	Avg Pace	Avg HR
29/04	6	Morning Easy	7:29/m	123
30/04	7	Morning Run inc Butchers Stop 🥓 🥚	7:45/m	124
01/05	10 7	Morning Run – Miles with the fast 👨🏻‍🚒 Afternoon Steady	7:48/m 7:19/m	119 118
02/05	10	Last UK 🇬🇧 run for 3 weeks time to hit the 🏔 🇫🇷	7:48/m	114
03/06	6	St Foy St > Le Planay Loop	7:53/m	126
04/05	10 6	St Foy St > La Planay > ST Foy Village Loop St Foy St > ST Foy Village > La Thuile Loop	8:02/m 7:47/m	123 139
05/05	22	Long Run – Bourg Sainte Maurice > Aime > Landry > Bourg	6:56/m	136

Kit

Make	Model	Description	Type	Current Mileage	Purchase Date
New Balance	1400v6	Red White AW18 – UK 11	Training Road	246	Oct-2018
New Balance	Summit Unknown	Black – UK 11	Training Trail	199	Oct-2018
Nike	Vaporfly 4% Flyknit	Red – UK 11	Racing Road	67	Jan-2019
Nike	Zoom Fly Flyknit	UK11 – Dark Grey/Black/Atmosphere Grey/Metallic Pewter	Training Road	685	Jan-2019
Nike	Zoom Fly Flyknit	UK11 – Wolf Grey / Black-Blue Fury	Training Road	358	Mar-2019
Nike	Zoom Fly Flyknit	UK11 – Blue Orbit/White/Photo Blue/Black	Training Road	38	Apr-2019
Nike	Zoom Fly Flyknit	UK11 – Sequoia/Olive Flak/Light Bone/Black	Training Road	19	Apr-2019
North Face	Ultra MT		Mountain	83	Mar-2017